An Usk man has turned a household item, invented through personal necessity, into a talked-about product on the UK market.

Martin Lewis, 78, first began developing his B-Warm heated seat cover three years ago when helping his wife recover from a spate of time in hospital.

"I was first inspired by heated seats in the car, when my wife said that she would rather stay in the car than come into the house," said Mr Lewis.

"I looked around for something to bring into the house but there didn't seem to be anything on the market for domestic use."

The light-weight product fits over the back of an arm chair, and heats just like an electric blanket, on four settings of varying heat. The idea is that the product will improve quality of life for those who are forced to spend much time sitting down. The B-Warm is designed to ease joint pains and cut fuel bills.

"It saves so much money," added Mr Lewis. "It enables home owners to turn their heating down and it costs just half a penny per hour to run.

"In the UK there are 9,000,000 people living with arthritis and 2,500,000 pensioners living in fuel poverty. I just wanted to do something to help."

Mr Lewis, who has lived in Usk for 43 years, worked on the product with his wife Audrey and alongside Usk-based design and technology company the GX Group.

"GX have been a major support through the design and manufacture processes, and they remain 50-50 shareholders in the product."

The B-Warm is waiting for a patent for its unique design and is currently being considered for sale by a well-known highstreet retailer.

The chair cover was produced with the help of a £10,000 Smart Cymru grant from the Welsh Assembly, and by: "the skin of our teeth and pension," said Mrs Lewis.

"But the benefit of the product will be unbeatable. All these people you hear about on the news who have to choose to eat or heat. It could be a lifesaver for them."

The seat cover is machine washable and has scope to be snapped up in the residential care and even sports markets.

Mr Lewis, who has developed several products throughout his career, is convinced that the B-Warm will cut fuel costs for users.

"On the low setting, the cover will run for seven hours at a cost of one penny."